Offset lithography is a common method of printing today. (For the purposes hereof, the terms “printing” and “marking” are interchangeable.) In a typical lithographic process a printing plate, which may be a flat plate, the surface of a cylinder, or belt, etc., is formed to have “image regions” formed of a hydrophobic/oleophilic material, and “non-image regions” formed of a hydrophilic/oleophobic material. The image regions correspond to the areas on the final print (i.e., the target substrate) that are occupied by a printing or marking material such as ink, whereas the non-image regions correspond to the areas on the final print that are not occupied by said marking material. The hydrophilic regions accept and are readily wetted by a water-based fluid, commonly referred to as a dampening fluid or fountain solution or release agent (typically consisting of water and a small amount of alcohol as well as other additives and/or surfactants to reduce surface tension). The hydrophobic regions repel release agent and accept ink, whereas the release agent formed over the hydrophilic regions forms a fluid “release layer” for rejecting ink. The hydrophilic regions of the printing plate thus correspond to unprinted areas, or “non-image areas”, of the final print.
The ink may be transferred directly to a target substrate, such as paper, or may be applied to an intermediate surface, such as an offset (or blanket) cylinder in an offset printing system. The offset cylinder is covered with a conformable coating or sleeve with a surface that can conform to the texture of the target substrate, which may have surface peak-to-valley depth somewhat greater than the surface peak-to-valley depth of the imaging plate. Also, the surface roughness of the offset blanket cylinder helps to deliver a more uniform layer of printing material to the target substrate free of defects such as mottle. Sufficient pressure is used to transfer the image from the offset cylinder to the target substrate. Pinching the target substrate between the offset cylinder and an impression cylinder provides this pressure.
Typical lithographic and offset printing techniques utilize plates which are permanently patterned, and are therefore useful only when printing a large number of copies of the same image (i.e. long print runs), such as magazines, newspapers, and the like. However, they do not permit creating and printing a new pattern from one page to the next without removing and replacing the print cylinder and/or the imaging plate (i.e., the technique cannot accommodate true high speed variable data printing wherein the image changes from impression to impression, for example, as in the case of digital printing systems). Furthermore, the cost of the permanently patterned imaging plates or cylinders is amortized over the number of copies. The cost per printed copy is therefore higher for shorter print runs of the same image than for longer print runs of the same image, as opposed to prints from digital printing systems.
Accordingly, a lithographic technique, referred to as variable data lithography, has been developed which uses a non-patterned reimageable surface that is initially uniformly coated with a release agent layer. Regions of the release agent are removed by exposure to a focused radiation source (e.g., a laser light source) to form pockets. A temporary pattern in the release agent is thereby formed over the non-patterned reimageable surface. Ink applied thereover is retained in the pockets formed by the removal of the release agent. The inked surface is then brought into contact with a substrate, and the ink transfers from the pockets in the release agent layer to the substrate. The release agent may then be removed, a new uniform layer of release agent applied to the reimageable surface, and the process repeated.
In typical variable data lithography, the release agent (i.e. dampening fluid, fountain solution) is configured to rest on top of the reimageable surface. The edges and/or corners of the pockets that are formed by the removal of release agent tend to be reshaped by the fluid that remains on the surface, because the surface tension of the fluid causes creeping of fluid back into the pockets. As a result, image resolution and image fidelity are reduced.
It is desirable to identify alternate materials and processes that are suitable for use for imaging members in variable data lithography with enhanced resolution and fidelity.